is it really possible that Donald trump could be president?????

[Bishopsbuddy]

I have zero understanding of American politics and wondered could some one give me an idiots explanation pls. Could trump really win???

[CoteDAzur]

Just out of curiosity: Is he a parent?

[claig]

'he is an Irish catholic'

He is German/Scottish. German on his father's side from Kallstadt.
Scottish on his mother's side from the Isle of Lewis.
He is Presbyterian.

[CoteDAzur]

Not so Catholic as to actually care about what his Pope had to say about Trump, though.

The point was that claig wouldn't find Trump so funny if he were on the receiving end of the racist, bigoted, xenophobic, and homophobic abuse. I am not in any of those minority groups hideously attacked and insulted by Trump either, but I don't find it funny when the weak and disadvantage are insulted.

[2016IsANewYearforMe]

He's not a WASP cote, he is an Irish catholic.

I disagree that such a high percentage of the population can simply be stupid. I think it's an issue of social class and education.

www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/03/who-are-donald-trumps-supporters-really/471714/?utm_source=SFFB

[CoteDAzur]

Trump's rise to Republican candidacy reminds me of the Stephen King book The Dead Zone: Man can see the past & future of the person he touches. He shakes the hand of a rising political star at a minor rally and sees that he will be an aggressive asshole of a president who will start nuclear war with Russia and decides to assassinate him before he becomes president.

Those were the days when the possible ascension of a puerile bully to presidency was fiction.

[AugustaFinkNottle]

'Tough means courage as in calling for the release of the redacted 28 pages of the 911 report."

Thousands of people have done this. Doing the same as thousands of people is neither tough nor courageous.

[Lweji]

It's interesting that he tries to show how superior he is (to his supporters surely, it can't be adversaries) because he's highly educated and knows "words", but then critics are put down for being oxbridge.

As they say, you can fool some people all of the time and all people for some of the time, but not all people all of the time. Fingers crossed people are awake at election time.

[Lweji]

Trump always wins because anyone showing him off for what he is is establishment, oxbridge, politically correct or whatever. He doesn't address arguments or ideas. He attacks people, and with concepts that even he can't explain and are defined ad hoc to suit him.
He resorts to mimicking and mocking people, which is the most childish and idiotic behaviour anyone can have. And damaging because there's very little any of the targets can retort. It's playground bullying of the worst kind, and certainly not expected from someone who wants high office.
For me that behaviour is highly damaging for him, though, because I wouldn't want a 7 year old in the oval office (although I know a few 7 year olds with more maturity, not to mention integrity and honesty).

[CoteDAzur]

There might be a correlation between supporting Trump and not having had much formal education, but I think the more obvious correlation is with (low) intelligence.

Here is a man born with a silver spoon in his mouth, who has swanned around in luxury all his life, and his supporters think he is not part of "the elite". He is a divisive, aggressive, nasty bully with zero qualities one would expect from any country's president let alone the US's and yet his supporters think that makes him "strong". He keeps saying the most outrageous, offensive, horrible things and apparently some of his supporters (like claig) think he's just talking and that he wouldn't do what he says

What is this if not an intelligence problem? It doesn't look like something you can fix with education to me.

Oh and apparently he will make a great president because he is "funny". I guess he can look funny if you are WASP rather than any of the minorities bearing the wrath of his hate speech and if you are the sort of person who thinks it is funny to insult and oppress minorities. I don't.

[TheGoldenApplesOfTheSun]

Trump is a racist psychopath. God help America.

[Thelwell]

'John Oliver doesn't really understand what "he tells it like it is" really means, because John Oliver is Oxbridge'

Do you mean that the people who "get" Trump are likely to be the 'less academic"?

If so, I might just have to agree with you. Which feels strange. But kinda nice.

[CoteDAzur]

"John Oliver doesn't really understand what "he tells it like it is" really means. What it means is that Trump is not politically correct."

No you don't understand what it means. It means being truthful and Trump is a pathological liar.

"he has loaned himself money so he is beholden to himself and no one else."

He has loaned it so he can get it back when he wants.

'Tough means courage as in calling for the release of the redacted 28 pages of the 911 report."

That has nothing to do with courage or being tough.

Yes he took business risks, lost sometimes but won more.

Everyone takes business risks. The commendable quality is to have made business decisions that were correct in retrospect. NOT setting up a mortgage finance company just before subprime crisis meltdown like Drumph did, for example.

"evolves and changes his opinions as he learns more."

Hahahaha is that what we call having no principles now.

It is hard to imagine a worse candidate to run for president - a racist, bigot, homophobe, xenophobe, consummate liar and bully with anger issues all wrapped up in orange fake tan and a ridiculous toupee, complete with a vicious bimbo on his arm.

[claig]

'He tells it like it is
"Does he? Because the website PolitiFact checked 77 of his statements, and rated 76 percent of them as varying degrees of false."'

John Oliver doesn't really understand what "he tells it like it is" really means, because John Oliver is Oxbridge. It has nothing to do with the wonkery of checking politifact, whatever that is. What it means is that Trump is not politically correct.

'He is truly independent and not beholden to anyone
"While it is true that he hasn't taken corporate money, the implication that he has personally spent $20 to $25 million is a bit of a stretch, because what he's actually done is loaned his own campaign $17.5 million '

Yes he has loaned himself money so he is beholden to himself and no one else.


'He's tough'
"For a tough guy, he has incredibly thin skin.

Two different things. Tough means courage as in calling for the release of the redacted 28 pages of the 911 report. Thin skinned means he easily takes offence and bears grudges which is why many of the top conservative donors are frightened to donate to his opponents in case they face retribution when he wins.

'His success
"While yes, he has made more money than most of us will make in a lifetime, not only did he get a multimillion-dollar inheritance from his father, but he's also lost a huge amount."

Yes he took business risks, lost sometimes but won more.

'Oliver also noted one other issue with Trump: He's wildly inconsistent.'

Yes, he is not an ideologue, he is a pragmatist and evolves and changes his opinions as he learns more.

[AugustaFinkNottle]

Oliver's comments of the type repeated to the point of tedium on this thread bears repeating:

He tells it like it is
"Does he? Because the website PolitiFact checked 77 of his statements, and rated 76 percent of them as varying degrees of false."

He is truly independent and not beholden to anyone
"While it is true that he hasn't taken corporate money, the implication that he has personally spent $20 to $25 million is a bit of a stretch, because what he's actually done is loaned his own campaign $17.5 million and has just personally given just $250,000. And that's important, because up until the convention he can pay himself back for the loan with campaign funds."

He's tough
"For a tough guy, he has incredibly thin skin. Back in 1988, Spy magazine called him a short-fingered vulgarian. And ever since, the editor Graydon Carter says he receives envelopes from Trump, always with a photo on which he circled his hand to highlight the length of his fingers, usually with a note reading, 'See, not so short!'"

His success
"While yes, he has made more money than most of us will make in a lifetime, not only did he get a multimillion-dollar inheritance from his father, but he's also lost a huge amount."

Oliver also noted one other issue with Trump: He's wildly inconsistent. "He's been pro-choice and pro-life, for and against assault weapon bans, in favor of both bringing in Syrian refugees and deporting them out of the country."

[claig]

The more we learn about Trump, the more obvious it is getting that he will do what the Rolling Stone article says he will do. He is going to tear up all the global elite's plans and end all of their scams and crimes and a lot of them will be serving time behind bars. That is why all the world's top financial newspapers etc have screaming headlines that "Trump must be stopped". They call it a Trumpageddon.

"this boorish, monosyllabic TV tyrant with the attention span of an Xbox-playing 11-year-old really is set to lay waste to the most impenetrable oligarchy the Western world ever devised."

www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-america-made-donald-trump-unstoppable-20160224

[TensionWheelsCoolHeels]

#MakeDonaldDrumpfAgain

[claig]

We have still got 17 posts to go but it is probably worth starting another one after that because it is a story that wll continue to run and get more crazy and entertaining as we get closer to election day.

[VertigoNun]

Are you starting a new thread?

[claig]

Fox News currently very concerned. Trump is holding a press conference in 4 hours time. They don't know what he will say and aren't even daring to imagine how he might stick it to them once again by skipping their debate.

'Bowing out of the Fox News debate would have the added bonus of sticking it to the channel's chief, Roger Ailes, and star anchor Kelly by depriving them of the ratings. "Why give them the audience?" the source explained. The last Fox debate without Trump pulled in 12.5 million viewers, down 50 percent from the first GOP debate.'

nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/03/trump-mulled-skipping-next-fox-news-debate.html#

[CoteDAzur]

I don't like Hilary either but if Trump is the other guy, there is no choice. Nobody with an IQ over 85 can vote for a smug scumbag and congenital liar like Trump, whatever their political leanings.

[claig]

Thanks for those articles, TendonQueen.

The Rolling Stone article is one of the best pieces of writing I have read on the subject - stunning, very insightful and very funny. Don't agree with all of it, but 90% is spot on. I always like Rolling Stone, they have excellent writers.

[TendonQueen]

Two articles here I've found very interesting in the last week. First, one by Bill Maher, which is negative about Trump's ideas but admiring of his connection with the public:

www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/bill-maher-pens-blistering-essay-863493

Second, a piece I thought was really insightful about what people like in Trump, while being pretty cynical about the whole system. This explains a lot. From Rolling Stone:

www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-america-made-donald-trump-unstoppable-20160224

[claig]

Phyllis Schlafly says "they will do everything they can, they will pull every dirty trick they can" to stop Trump, but she thinks Trump will get the nomination and beat the "kingmakers".

Trump 2016!

[claig]

Phyllis Schlafly, absolute conservative legend, says she has "never had more fun watching TV to see the Establishment trying to get rid of Trump and not being able to."

I don't know much about her but have heard lots of US conservatives say she is a real legend.

[Want2bSupermum]

I think Sanders vs Trump would result in a Sanders win. The Democrats are being very short sighted by giving the nomination to Clinton. Trump vs Clinton is very risky because given the choice a lot of people will take a second look at Trump and possibly vote that way.

I do think Sanders has been given a very rough deal. He is actually the best thing to happen in US politics in a very long time. Sadly it doesn't look like he is going to get the nod.